


Tie Me to a Purer Movement

by jesterlady



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s05e10 Counterpoint, F/M, Gen, Missing Scene, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 11:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kathryn and Chakotay have a conversation about whether or not they can trust Kashyk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tie Me to a Purer Movement

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own ST Voyager. The title is by Pablo Neruda
> 
> Whenever Janeway or Chakotay had an alien love interest on the show I always saw the episode through the other person's eyes...

Once Kashyk had left the room Kathryn sighed and asked Chakotay to meet her in her ready room. She had the feeling that she had lost perspective and needed his counsel. In one way she didn’t know if he’d have any better luck being objective, but he would, at least, be honest with her and she could really use some truth about now. Someone she knew she could rely on.

“Where’s our visitor?” he asked upon entering the room.

“Getting ready to go back to his day job,” she said and explained the situation to him.

When she had finished he was silent for a minute and then shook his head.

“I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t have a better idea,” she said. “Unless you can give me one or give me a solid reason not to trust him, I don’t know what else to do.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said, his hands on his hips. “You’ve spent more time with him than I have. You tell me if we can trust him.”

“I don’t know that we can,” she said. “But I know that I want to and that makes me suspicious. There’s something about him that’s very disarming.”

“I see,” said Chakotay carefully and she winced.

“I know,” she said, turning away so she wouldn’t have to look at his face. “It’s not that my judgment has been compromised, I promise you, but there’s nothing that I like better than a redemption story.” She turned back toward him. “I’ve seen men like him change for the better.”

“Are you comparing me to him now?” he asked, looking a little affronted.

“Not in so many words,” she said. “There are vast differences. You were fighting for a cause, not oppressing innocent people. There was no hesitation in your decision to change, not like him.”

“So I’m better?” he asked.

She frowned at him and he kept his face impassive until she cracked and smiled.

“Fine, you’re better,” she said. “This isn’t about which one of you I like more. I’m not sure how we even got on to this topic.”

“I was baiting you,” he said, “and it wasn’t fair. I have to admit that my own bias against men who admire you is rather high.”

“I know,” she said quietly, but they were drifting into very dangerous territory and she was confused enough as it was. “Perhaps it wasn’t fair to ask you what you think, but I need you to help me solve my dilemma as my first officer, not as my…friend.”

“I understand,” he said, straightening up. “Then let’s look at it. Neither of us is sure we can trust him regardless of how we might want to. So how do we get out of this situation?”

“We can’t be sure he won’t betray us,” she said, drifting toward the window. “If that happens we need a way to seize the upper hand.”

“We’re outmatched tactically,” he said.

“Right, but we have knowledge on our hands,” she said thoughtfully.

“Knowledge?”

“Of the wormhole. We could feed him false information so in case he cracks he won’t be able to give us away.”

“That still doesn’t help the twelve people in our cargo bay.”

“Maybe a bait and switch is in order,” she said, starting to grin.

“Do I sense another diabolical plan by Kathryn Janeway?” he asked.

“You just might,” she said. “If the shark is circling the bait on the hook, he might not notice the worm swimming in the other direction.”

“We could send them to the wormhole in shuttlecrafts,” he said, beginning a grin of his own. “If we set up the ship to look like we’re still hiding everyone they won’t notice anything until it’s too late and if the plan goes off as he suggests then we’ve lost nothing.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” she said. “I hope I’m wrong, Chakotay, I’d like to believe he can change and that he’ll come with us, but I won’t risk the safety of my crewmembers or those twelve innocents.”

“I assume we’ll have to send Tuvoc and the others on the shuttlecraft,” said Chakotay. “We’ll need to get through the wormhole ourselves to meet up with them. And if it’s destroyed…”

“If it’s destroyed, we’ll be trapped and they’ll have to make do on the other side,” she said. “That’s the risk I think we have to take. I’m betting that if the good Inspector turns on us, he won’t want the embarrassment to go on his record.”

“Know him pretty well, do you?” asked Chakotay.

“There’s a certain arrogance to his charm,” she said thoughtfully, “but I believe his main pride is in manipulating how others see him. A fake transparency. It’s intriguing, but hollow. He could change, maybe he has, I don’t know.”

“If he has…do you think he’ll come with us?”

“Unless he can steal my music collection, probably,” she said.

“Maybe it would be good for you,” he said stiffly.

“Do you really believe that?” she asked, stepping closer to him.

“No,” he said, shifting on his feet. “Like I said, I have a bias against men who admire you. I might not have the right, but that’s how I feel.”

“I understand,” she said, putting both of her hands lightly on his chest. “I’ve sometimes thought the same thing about a few of your admirers.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “But as your Captain and as your friend I try to be happy for you anyway.”

“Where you lead, I follow,” he said, stepping backwards, away from her hands.

She let them drop to her side and nodded at him.

“Thank you. I don’t know how this situation will end, but I’m counting on you to be at my side.”

“That will never change,” he promised.

“You have your orders then,” she said. “Let’s see how convincing we can be dangling on that hook.”

“I’ll let Tuvoc, Seven, and B’Elanna know,” he said. “We’ll be discreet so as not to alert our guest.”

“I’ll escort him off the ship,” she said. “Have Tuvoc meet us.”

“Yes, Captain,” he said, leaving.

Kathryn sagged against her desk for a minute. Whenever conversations like that happened with Chakotay, her resolve buckled. In this instance she had more variables than usual to test her resolve and someone else to think about.

“You’ve got yourself in a jam this time, Kathryn,” she told herself and prepared to say goodbye to someone she had very mixed feelings about.


End file.
